'My son was too tired to breastfeed, then he spent 12 days in hospital'

“We were so scared, we thought he would die,” Brisbane mum-of-three Kate remembers of her youngest son's 12-day ordeal in hospital.

Kate Carroll’s son Joey had a “bit of a cold”, a runny nose and a cough when he had his routine four-week check up with his paediatrician.

The Brisbane mum told Kidspot she was happy about the timing given Joey’s illness, but she couldn’t have foreseen the ordeal her son would soon go through.

The paediatrician told Kate to watch her youngest son for any breathing issues, and told her to take him to emergency if he seemed to be struggling.

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That afternoon, Kate saw enough signs to start to worry about her son.

“I decided we needed to take him to emergency because he wasn’t breathing easily any more,” she said.

“I was trying to breastfeed him, but he was too tired to latch on and feed. Joey was a good feeder, but all of a sudden he didn’t have the energy.”

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Joey was only four weeks old when he spent 12 days in hospital with RSV. Picture: Supplied

"She told us to call an ambulance"

Kate rang her mother-in-law, a midwife, to ask her to watch her two older boys while she and her partner took Joey to hospital.

However, their plans changed once the mother-in-law arrived.

“She watched him breathe and told us to call an ambulance, so we did that instead,” Kate said.

“They took us straight into emergency once we’d arrived.”

Little Joey had contracted RSV, a cold-like virus that is usually mild in adults but can be extremely dangerous to infants and the elderly.

Kate is sharing her son’s story for RSV Awareness Week to help other parents see potentially dangerous signs in their children.

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Joey was in ICU for six days while his little body fought RSV. Picture: Supplied

"We were so scared, we thought he would die"

The Brisbane mum said Joey was put straight into ICU and on high-flow oxygen. He spent six days in ICU as part of a 12-day stay in hospital.

“We were so scared, we thought he would die,” the mum-of-three remembers.

“He was really struggling, particularly in the ICU. We’d have other babies come in and have the same cough, but they’d only be in hospital for a couple of days before they were well enough to get out of ICU and go home.

“I stayed in the hospital with him as much as I could, and my husband went home to be with our other two boys. We wanted to make sure someone was always there with him, but it was traumatising.

“He’d have coughing fits, and you’d see all the numbers on his machine drop - It was really scary watching that.”

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"The nurses finally told me he was improving"

Joey did eventually turn a corner and fight back against RSV, but still faced another six days in hospital.

“The last day in ICU the nurses told me it looked like he was finally improving a little bit,” Kate said.

“I thought, ‘thank goodness we’ll be getting out of here’, but he ended up just moving to the ward.

“They watched him and started to turn his high-flow oxygen down a bit, and when he kept breathing OK by himself we were so relieved because we were finally starting to get through this.”

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Joey is now a happy and healthy five-year-old in prep at school. Picture: Supplied

"We're so grateful we still have him"

Joey is now a happy, healthy five-year-old, but Kate said she and her husband feel “very lucky that we still have him with us”.

“He hasn’t had any ongoing problems,” she said. 

“They weren’t sure if it would cause anything long term, they thought he might get asthma, but he doesn’t have that or any other breathing issues now.

“He’s in prep this year and he’s doing really well. He’s a bit of an anxious child, so drop offs can be hard, but he’s enjoying school and picking everything up really well.

“We’re just so grateful we still have him and he’s so healthy.”

Originally published as 'My son was too tired to breastfeed, then he spent 12 days in hospital'